Scanner devices, such as a flatbed scanner 3, are well-known in the art and produce machine-readable image data signals that are representative of a scanned object 5, such as a photograph or a page of printed text. See FIG. 1. In a typical scanner application, the image data signals produced by a flat bed scanner 3 may be used by a computer system 7 to reproduce an image 9 of the scanned object 5 on a suitable display device 11, such as a cathode ray tube (“CRT”) or liquid crystal display (“LCD”). The computer system 7 may also print an image (not shown) of the object 5 on a printer (also not shown) connected to the computer system 7.
The typical flatbed scanner 3 is provided with a scanner housing 13 suitable for holding the various systems and components comprising the flatbed scanner 3. See FIG. 1. The scanner housing 13 may comprise a generally rectangularly shaped structure having a top side 15 and a bottom side 17 that are positioned in generally parallel, spaced-apart relation to one another. The top side 15 of scanner housing 13 may include a generally rectangularly shaped scanning bed or transparent platen 19 that has a length 25 and a width 27. Generally, the width 27 is less than the length 25. The scanning bed 19 may have first and second edges 33 and 35 that are positioned in generally parallel, spaced-apart relation to one another. The scanning bed 19 may also include third and fourth edges 37 and 39 that are positioned in generally parallel, spaced-apart relation to one another.
The scanner housing 13 may be further provided with a control panel 21 operatively associated with the flatbed scanner 3. A scanner lid 23 may be pivotally attached to the housing 13 via a hinge member 29. The hinge member 29 allows the scanner lid 23 to rotate about a pivot axis 31 between its opened position and its closed position.
The flatbed scanner 3 may further include illumination and optical systems (not shown) positioned within the housing 13 underneath the scanning bed 19. The illumination and optical systems accomplish the scanning of the object 5. More specifically, the illumination system illuminates a portion of the object 5 (commonly referred to as a “scan region”), whereas the optical system collects light reflected by the illuminated scan region and focuses a small area of the illuminated scan region (commonly referred to as a “scan line”) onto the surface of a photosensitive detector (not shown) positioned within the scanner housing 13. Image data representative of the entire object 5 may then be obtained by sweeping the scan line across the entire object 5, usually by moving the illumination and optical systems with respect to the object 5.
By way of example, the illumination system may include a light source (e.g., a fluorescent or incandescent lamp or an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs)). The optical system may include a lens and/or mirror assembly to focus the image of the illuminated scan line onto the surface of the detector. Alternatively, a “contact image sensor” (CIS) may be used to collect and focus light from the illuminated scan region on the detector. The photosensitive detector used to detect the image light focused thereon by the optical system may be a charge-coupled device (CCD), although other devices may be used. A typical CCD may comprise an array of individual cells or “pixels,” each of which collects or builds-up an electrical charge in response to exposure to light. Since the quantity of the accumulated electrical charge in any given cell or pixel is related to the intensity and duration of the light exposure, a CCD may be used to detect light and dark spots on an image focused thereon.
Flatbed scanners and the various components thereof are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,040,572 for NOTEBOOK STYLED SCANNER of Khovaylo, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,05 for OPTICAL SCANNER of David Wayne Boyd; U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,144 for COLOR IMAGER UTILIZING NOVEL TRICHROMATIC BEAM SPLITTER AND PHOTOSENSOR of Kent J. Vincent; U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,268 for COLOR COMBINER AND SEPARATOR AND IMPLEMENTATIONS of Kent J. Vincent and Hans D. Neuman; U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,028 for OPTICAL SCANNER APERTURE AND LIGHT SOURCE ASSEMBLY of Boyd, et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,620 for APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING COMPONENTS OF COLOR OPTICAL SCANNERS of Elder, et al., which are each hereby specifically incorporated by reference for all that is disclosed therein.
As personal computers and their peripheral devices continue to decrease in price while increasing in quality, more users find themselves with home computer systems that include scanners and high-quality color printers. Although many of the users have been informed of the ease with which creative tasks can be performed with such high-tech devices, many creative tasks can be far too complex for the average user to successfully complete and enjoy. For example, many problems surface when a user wants to scan an object that has a different orientation than the scanner (i.e., scanning a landscape-oriented item on a portrait-oriented flatbed scanner).
As previously mentioned, the typical flatbed scanner 3 will have a non-square, generally rectangular scanning bed 19 under which the illumination and optical systems operate while gathering image data representative of the entire object 5. Traditionally, the software and hardware associated with flatbed scanners assume an orientation fixed by the movement of the illumination and optical systems. For reasons of manufacturing effectiveness, the movement of the illumination and optical systems and thus the orientation for flatbed scanners is almost universally oriented in portrait mode.
In the portrait orientation, the subject matter of the printed page is such that the short sides of the page form the top and bottom of the page. Conversely, in the landscape orientation, the subject matter of the printed page is such that the long sides of the page form the top and bottom of the page. Thus, an object 5 being scanned by a portrait-oriented flatbed scanner 3 should be oriented in an upright fashion in the direction indicated by arrow 43, that direction being substantially parallel to the length 25 of scanning bed 19 (FIG. 1). Stated differently, the portrait-oriented scanner 3 assumes that the top portion of the object 5 is located at about the first edge 33 of scanning bed 19. Since the typical flatbed scanner has a portrait orientation, users wanting to scan landscape-oriented objects (i.e., object 5′ shown in FIG. 3) often obtain unsatisfactory results due to the mismatched orientations. To compensate for the different orientation, the image of the scanned landscape-oriented object 5′ must first be rotated before it can be displayed in the proper orientation.
Partly in an effort to allow users to scan landscape-oriented objects with portrait-oriented scanners, computer software programs have been developed that allow users to rotate the images after scanning. While such software programs are effective from a functional standpoint, such software programs are not without their problems. For example, the additional steps required to rotate the images often leads to user confusion. Moreover, such software programs do not allow for the desired scanner orientation to be preserved for subsequent scans. Such an arrangement forces the user to rotate each image on a per-scan basis to correct for the portrait/landscape orientation mismatch. In other words, even if a user wishes to scan a series of landscape-oriented objects, the user is still required to scan each landscape-oriented object in portrait mode and then correct for the orientation mismatch by rotating each image separately. Although this “scan then rotate” procedure may eventually yield good results, it only does so after the user has expended significant amounts of time and effort to scan and then rotate each image. Obviously, such extensive computer-based editing requires a significant amount of time and patience on the part of the user and can quickly turn a creative endeavor into a tedious task.
In another effort to allow users to scan objects having orientations different from that of the scanner, computer software programs have been developed that automatically attempt to correct for the mismatched orientation (i.e., by rotating the image) when the software, after analyzing the scan content, determines it is necessary. Although such software programs may be functionally effective, they are fraught with problems. First, a substantial amount of time is needed for the software to analyze the scan content, to determine whether a orientation correction is needed, and then rotate the image. Second, the software may not always work if the object contains both landscape and portrait oriented features. Moreover, the automated software does not preserve the desired scanner orientation for subsequent scans. That is, the software rotates each image on a per-scan basis to correct for the portrait/landscape orientation mismatch. This “scan and automated rotation” procedure can only yield good results if a significant amount of time is available. Obviously, such extensive computer-based editing, even when performed automatically by the software, requires significant time and processing capacity.
Consequently, a need remains for image display orientation control apparatus that allows a user to select a scanning orientation (i.e., portrait or landscape) for a scanner and have that scanner orientation preserved for subsequent independent uses of the scanner. The image display orientation control apparatus should eliminate the need to individually rotate each scanned image when the objects being scanned have orientations that are different from that of the scanner. Finally, the image display orientation control apparatus should not prevent the user from using the traditional rotation tools available in the image processing software provided on the computer system 7 to override the selected scanner orientation.